Archive for the ‘Minoan History and culture’ Category

Archeological mystery:

Look at the bay in Google Maps!

Do you se the rectangular structure left an south from the bay? Size is abou 40 x 4 meters, it must be very big in order to show that clearly on the satellite map!

This enormous structure, 40 x 8 m stone set walls is clearly visible at the lower left side of the bay.

The structure seen from inside.

Details of bricks. Look closely at the bricks and the way the structure is put together.

The bricks are unmistakably of roman type

The answer may be found in the geographical l position of the structure. The entire valley is full of olive trees!

If you se this in relation to the history of Crete it is not difficult to get an idea. Notice the island Psira to the north, the town Mochlos to the northwest, both within distance 10 km.Both places had substantial Minoan setlements in the Bronze Age.

Se locatin on Google Maps

I brought all the material to the arcaological museum in Agios Nikolaos.

Comments: There is no record that there is anything of arcaeological inerest in this area, consequently, the structure must be quite modern.

Is the Minoan Golden Needle given by Jean Piere Olivier in 1981 genuine?

By Sven Buchholz

Gorilla. CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or. Measure 5 cm !

I first came to visit the archaeological museum of Agios Nikolaos in 1993. This archaeological Museum is relatively small, but with regard to findings from the Minoan epoch it is amongst the biggest in the world. This is probably because the most interesting Minoan findings were made within a 100 km range from Agios Nikolaos. The Museum of Sitia, also in the same province Lasithi, has also got a substantial collection from the same period.The museum is exhibiting big and small objects from the early Minoan period and up to the Hellenic around 400 BC.

In order to absorb all you can see in the museum it is necessary to take a small section only at atime . Today, 19 years after my first visit, I must admit that there is one, probably the smallest object of the entire museum that has caught most of my attention. Consequently I must admit that I had to look at it every time I visited the collection.

The object on the picture is a piece of jewellery, a needle made of pure gold. On one side there is an engraved a floral motif, many small and larger flowers alongside a spiral stalk. Looking at the picture one must have in mind that the engraved part of the needle is only 5cm long! One of my first questions was how it could be possible for the Minoans to make such microscopic engravings without having access to magnifying glasses? The most mysterious about the needle is that on the reverse side there are engraved 18 characters of the hitherto undeciphered Minoan writing LINEAR A! In order to help the visitors of the museum to see the needle accurately, it is mounted with a magnifying glass!

To me the needle represents a triple mystery:

1. What was the meaning of the 18 characters of Linear A?

2. How was it possible for the Minoans to produce this quality of engraving?

3. What was the purpose, the function of this needle with its engraving?

I am sure that many of the visitors in the museum have wondered about the meaning of the inscription.

The significance of a high culture is first and foremost the existence of a writing system. During the various excavations in Crete there were found 3 different systems: The hieroglyphic (The Phaistos Disc), the Linear A and the Linear B. The Linear A and B are both syllable systems. Linear B has been deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick. It was possible to decipher Linear B because there was a lot of available material in form of clay tablets to be found in Knossos. It was also found that the language was an early dialect of Mycenaean Greek, 500 years before Homer.

Unfortunately, due to negligence and carelessness by Sir Arthur Evans, the excavator of Knossos and the inventor of the Minoan civilisation, hundreds of Linear A tablets were destroyed by rain since he left them in a shelter at Knossos without a roof! Had we only had these to our disposal, we might have deciphered Linear A by now!

We have not got many documents of Minoan Linear A. From Egyptian harbour documents it has been established that the Minoans bought papyrus in Egypt. Looking at the Linear A sign it becomes clear that the signs are designed to be written with a sort of pen on papyrus. The Cretan climate is however too humid for any piece of papyrus to have survived. Most of the pieces that have survived are to be found on clay tablets. This material was used for more serious, probably official documents.

Two French linguists, Louis Godart, and Jean-Pierre Olivier from the French School of Athens spent a great deal of their life in researching the Linear A. The two professors never tried to decipher the writing, what they did was to systemize and classify all the available findings.

In 1975 they issued their work in 5 very big volumes. Jean-Pierre Olivier, who was well known as a humorist and a great practical joker, called the work for GORILLA! The Linear signs he called COMICS and the Cretan hieroglyphs he called CHICK!

These enormous books are most impressive with the very well executed systematisation of all findings made up till 1975.

If you take the time to go through the books, the first impression you get is that there are not many of the texts that are long enough to convey a meaningful message. For this reason I am afraid it will not be possible to decipher the Linear A, taking in consideration that the language is unknown. Hopefully we will in some future find more Linear A texts. I have hope for the excavations in Akrotiri at Santorini and in Palaikastro where Sandy Mac Gillivray from the British School of Athens, by the use of radar scanning has found evidence of yet another palace.

Concerning the engraving Evans has stated that it is quite possible that the Minoans had magnifying glasses made of crystal!

The only rational purpose I can guess, for the needle is to be given as a gift.

That is probably also the content of the inscription!

The biggest Minoan document that was ever found is the Phaistos Disc. It has 242 hieroglyphic characters. There are however only 42 of them that are different. The disc was found in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Louis Pernier in connection with the excavations of Phaistos.

Some of the signs have also been found on the Arkalochori Axe. The bronze Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC Minoan votive double axe excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in1934 in the Arkalochori cave. It is inscribed with fifteen hieroglyphic signs. It has been suggested that these might be Linear A but Professor Glanville Price agrees with Louis Godart that «the characters on the axe are no more than a ‘pseudo-inscription’ engraved by an illiterate in uncomprehending imitation of authentic Linear A characters on other similar axes».

If we put all the hieroglyphs together we end up with less that 50 hieroglyphic signs. Nobody could possibly claim that the hieroglyphs on the disk or the axe fit into a phonetic system such as the Greek or the Latin alphabet. The systems we know need only 22 to 35 characters. Linear B has little more than 100 characters. It is therefore simple arithmetic to conclude that no syllable system consisting of only 45 characters would be able to convey any intelligent message. For idiomatic pictogram systems we all know it takes thousands of characters, ref. Chinese and Japanese! For this reason I have always been sceptical to both the axe and the disk!

The truth is however that now, 19 years after my first visit to the Museum, my scepticism concerning the Golden Needle Gorilla. CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or has increased.

The CR Zf 1 is not the only Linear A document that is engraved on a piece of metal jewellery. Evans found one in Knossos with 46 Linear A signs. Gorilla KN Zf 31 , engraved on silver «Epingle d’ Argent«, and KN Zf 13 on gold. There is however no resemblance between the engraved motifs on these 2 objects and Gorilla. CR Zf 1.

Gorilla KN Zf 31

Gorilla KN Zf 13

Ring in gold.

I have looked through all available material on Minoan art history. Each Minoan period is distinctly noticed by the type of motifs to be found on pottery, terracotta etc. I have not been able to find even a remote likeness between the needle and any Minoan period in art history.

In “Gorilla” all objects are clearly defined by the place each single object was found. The needle CR Zf 1 is the only object where the place it was found is totally unknown! What we know is that the CR Zf 1 was given to the museum by one of the two Frenchmen Jean Pierre Olivier in 1937. He claimed he had found it on an antique market in Brussels! With the needle, the Museum also got a detailed report with detailed analyses. Another point that increases my suspicion is the difference between the front and the back side! Whilst the side with the flowers is engraved with the highest calibre of craftsmanship, the back can almost be described as the opposite! It looks rather amateurish! The surface is very rough and the signs have been engraved very roughly.

Even if the Minoans had magnifying glasses I can hardly see how they could have managed this almost microscopic engraving, much smaller than on all the other known Minoan pieces of jewellery! I also doubt that magnifying glass made of crystal could have been able to give a clear enough image.

Having found no resemblance of the motive in Minoan or even Mycenaean art history I extended my area of search, distributing pictures to my entire international network of people with knowledge of art history. I did not tell the origin of the object, i.e. that it was exhibited in a museum as a Minoan artefact.

The answer came relatively quick from some of the sources, and they were as good as identical:

The motive is clearly inspired by Italian design from around 1870 – 1890!

I did not get a shock; I more or less expected something in that direction! Little by little I received more detailed information: The engraving has great resemblance with the school of Florentine floral design made around 1870 / 90. The style with whichthe needle is engraved is however not quite synonymous! The object may have been moulded in a cast. The cast may well have been made partly by stamping the identical flowers into the mould! This procedure moves the time aspect into the 20th century! After World War I the cheap mass produced jewellery came on the market, known as bijouterie. Many well known jewelleries and artefacts were copied and mass produced in exactly this way. One of my contacts mentioned the object as being Bohemian, that means it comes from today’s Czech Republic! They specialized in the 1920 – 30 in making exactly this type of mass produced jewellery, using all sorts of existing motives as models. The production is still going on! The object is most likely to have been produced 1925 – 1935. Olivier has probably made a copy in pure gold. He remooved the one side and added the Linear A signs. Not a very good job if I may say so!

These are my points of suspicion:

The object has no resemblance with any decoration of the entire Minoan art history.

The engraving is too microscopic to have been done 1600 years BC.

Contrary to all other Minoan objects, the place where the needle was found is unknown.

The pattern has a strong resemblance with Florentine floral design from the 19 century.

The production technique is likely to be one of mass production, time 20 century, place Bohemia.

The needle was given to the AgiosNikolaosMuseum by Olivier as late as 1982! Where was the needle found, when? The story tells that the needle was “found” by the same Olivier on a Brusselsantique market!”This needle is the only object in the entire museum that we do not have any information about where it was found! Is it at all likely that this small object cold have escaped from any known archaeological excavation? Where was the needle kept all the time until Olivier found it?

With the needle there was an extensive report, written on 27 pages with all possible scientific analyses made by Olivier himself. Also the report he produced, obtainable from the Agios Nikolaos Archaeological Museumis highly suspicious! It is exactly like the one someone would have made in order to cover! up for a stunt like this?

Another page of Olivier’s 27 pages report showing shape of needle from all sides.

The other piece of Minoan metal jewellery Gorilla CR Zf 13 and CR Zf 31, found by Evans at Knossos is an obvious model for Gorilla CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or !

Jean Pierre Olivier was well known as a humorist and a practical joker. Of course Olivier knew that the motif was very far from resembling any Minoan decoration! However, an honest practical joker may well leave a clue, such as the Italian design and the difference between front and back!

Even if the needle maybe a fake, the engraved Minoan signs in Linear A may well be authentic. Olivier may well have anticipated that the Linear A enigma sooner or later may be solved and the script encrypted. He had for a certain period access to a lot of material, such as the clay tablets from Kato Zachros and others. It is not unlikely that one of these texts could have “disappeared” in form of a clay tablet for then to “reappear” on the golden needle!

However, where do we stand if also the Phaistos Disk and the Arkalochori Axe are faked?

To prove the opposite is up to the museum of Heraklion. They refuse to carry out any tests on the mentioned objects. Maybe for obvious reasons?

What would the Norwegians say if somebody suddenly claimed that the “Viking – Ships”, the Norwegians national pride number 1, were produced by a local carpenter?

I doubt that I am the only one who has made these observations, but others who might have come to the same conclusion may well be excluded from the opportunity of being able to publish their findings!

If I had been a psychologist, I might well have started to dig into the motivation that could bring established scientists to carry out stunts of this nature. I am not, but I will do my best.

To be an archaeologist is one of the loneliest jobs I can think of. First you excavate carefully with very small tools, even brushes days and years without any guarantee that you will find something at all! If and when you find something you spend maybe more time to put it into a detailed system in form of a report. You end up with one of many books on a shelf. Only skilled colleagues will ever be able to find out what it is all about! Many archaeologists must have a secret dream of acknowledgment and fame. Some of them, the younger ones may need it in order to get further. Other may have gotten frustrated to have found little or nothing and to observe colleagues making the find of all times just a few km away from his workplace! What is then more natural for the one with a little more skill and creative fantasy than to help speeding up the development!

Jean Pierre Olivier does not belong in this category! He did a great job; he knew it and he became quite famous. Olivier was however also a great humorist and a true practical joker. He left a clear clue! However it should take more than 30 years for some outsider to find out!

As I already have said, I am convinced that the ”insiders” have always known!

Johan Jarnaes, a citizen of the small Norwegian town of Kongsberg, is the one making this assertion. Kongsberg is situated 80 km to the west of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Johan Jarnaes holds university degrees in history, archaeology and languages. On a late evening in autumn 1987 Johan was out for a walk in the outlying fields surrounding the small town of Kongsberg. Due to the low sunlight he discovered some strange, unknown, signs on a flat granite slab. The slab was part of a farmyard belonging to a friend of his. Johan had been on the spot many times, but neither he nor his friend, the owner, had seen these signs before. The signs were revealed only because Johan happened to pass there just at the moment the sun was setting, thus throwing a beam of light onto the slab.

PICTURE 1. Johan Jarnæs and the author on the granite slab.

After the slab had been cleaned, some engraved characters became visible.

PICTURE 2 and 3. The 5 characters.

Jarnaes found the characters sensational since they reminded him at first sight of characters from the classical Greek alphabet. Furthermore he discovered 12 circular cup shaped marks with a diameter of 4 to 8 cm as well as a drawing that apparently was an illustration of a boat! There were also other engravings on the granite slab. The engraving techniques indicated that they had originated in various different eras. In addition to the previously mentioned characters, signs and drawings, Johan discovered an even more peculiar one which had no resemblance to any of the others. The lower part Johan later recognised as a “bag for water or wine”. The strangest was, however, that on the outside of the “bag” a horizontal parallel wavelike drawing was visible. Jarnaes came to the conclusion that the wavelike drawing was apparently meant to describe water! On the top of the bag there was an even stranger sign that reminded him of the letter V in the Latin alphabet. The most mysterious in this whole figure was that the three parallel wavelike lines were identical with the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for water!

PICTURE 5,”The Wine Bag”

Picture 7. The boat.

The boat was, for Jarnaes, a familiar drawing on many granite slabs in south-western Norway as well as in the Swedish county of “Bohuslan”. The carving technique was very similar to the above mentioned engravings from Kongsberg. Consequently Jarnaes could determine the time period to be the bronze age, 1500 – 2000 BC.

The enigma.

Jarnaes was most surprised. What could these inscriptions possibly mean? They reminded him of characters in the ancient Greek alphabet, but there were also clear indications that the characters were almost a 1000 years older. The origin of the Greek alphabet can be determined with great accuracy to 750 BC.

What happened at Kongsberg before 1623?

The town was founded in 1623 because a shepherd found a large lump of silver. The silver mining led to the rapid growth of Kongsberg which soon became a town of 10,000 inhabitants. By 1958 the silver load had been exhausted and mining was discontinued. In accordance with “the official opinion”, the town of Kongsberg had had no history before 1623. This opinion was, however, not shared by Jarnaes and hisfriends in the “Kongsberg Archaeological Society”. For more than 30 years the society has carried out its own research in order to establish the fact that the town did have a history before 1623. Amongst Jarnaes’ friends were experts in many fields, such as languages, history, archaeology, geology, and astronomy. Jarnaes has summarised the results of this research in a book.

“Before Kongsberg was founded”

This book is very interesting to read. A lot of findings were made, not only from the Bronze Age, but also from earlier periods. The most sensational were the numerous discoveries that showed clear indications of prehistoric mining! It is likely that the silver mines of Kongsberg were amongst the richest inEurope! In addition to that, the silver from Kongsberg is almost 100% pure! The common way to produce silver in the Bronze Age, as it is today, is by smelting ores containing lead and silver, a most costly procedure. The silver produced in this manner will contain a certain amount of lead that gives it a grey colour in contrast to the Kongsberg silver that is bright and shining. Another sensational finding was stone settings carefully positioned in accordance with an astronomical or mathematical pattern! In one case the settings constituted a solar calendar. It is absolutely clear that the population of Norwayat that time was rather primitive and could not possibly have had such skills. This knowledge is characteristic of an advanced culture! From where could the knowledge have come?

Linear A characters of the writing system belonging to the Minoan civilisation of Crete!

Jarnaes’ idea that the characters could belong to the classical Greek alphabet could not be correct because they were all consonants, whilst the Greek language was particularly rich in vowels. The findings on the granite slab at the farm
“Langkjern” were made in 1987. The enigma remained unsolved until the Norwegian linguist; Kjell Aartun came to Kongsberg in 1994. He is internationally well known in scientific linguistic circles. Amongst others, Kjell Aartun has received a prize from “The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters” for his research on ancient languages of the Mediterranean and theMiddle East. Aartun determined that the characters belonged to the Minoan writing system Linear A, fromCrete.

The first words ever written in Norway, in Artun’s interpretation, were “The pure and the soft”. Concerning the other strange images, Aartun determined that the two were of the same hieroglyphic signs that were found on the Phaistos Disc; “The Wine Bag” and “Coral”. Those who have bought the disc as a souvenir will easily be able to recognize them. In accordance with Aartun’s deciphering, the two signs mean: “The place for visitors” that is, a ritual place to be used by visitors. For Jarnaes one more enigma needed to be solved: The wave-shaped lines on the bag, resembling the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Minoans had very close trade connection with Egyptand it is most likely that they knew the Egyptian language and writing. The hieroglyphs read: WATER and, in the southern countries of the Mediterranean, water was regarded as the most precious gift. Even if the Minoans did not habitually make petroglyphs, stone carvings, such as the Scandinavians used on their numerous cult sites, were not unknown to them. It is believed that the Scandinavian “Helleristninger” petroglyphs were made in order to call on the favour of the gods.

“The pure and the soft”

Who could have written these words on a granite slab at Kongsberg 2000 years before the Norwegians knew the art of writing? The Minoans? If so, what were they doing in Norway, and what did the words mean. In Jarnaes’ opinion both of Aartun’s translations could have a clear meaning. In the Bronze Age, the Minoans were the most skilled tradesmen in the Mediterranean area. They were trading with all countries including the ones in the Middle East. One of their specialties was trading in metals; bronze, gold, silver, lead etc. We have information from Egyptian hieroglyphs that the Egyptians, who possessed gold in great quantities, were willing to pay twice the weight of gold for one unit weight
of silver. It is not likely that our ancestors, primitive as they were at that time, knew the real trade value of pure silver. The metal was soft and not very useful for practical purposes; what they needed was bronze. That could have made the long journeys extremely profitable for the Minoans. This made it worthwhile to carve the words “The pure and the soft” on that granite slab near Kongsberg! The “pure and soft” was silver of course! The Minoans would have wanted to thank the gods for the costly goods in the same way as their Norwegian “trade counterparts” – “When in Rome do as the Romans do”!

PICTURE 5 / Bryce‘s list.

The five characters compared with the catalogue of Minoan Linear A made by William Bryce.

How were the Minoans able to travel to Norway, and how did they know they could find silver there?

For those of our ancestors who lived alongside the DrammenRiver, around 3.700 years ago, it must have been an impressive sight to see the large Minoan Vessels sailing up the river! The boats were at least 35 meters long and the large sails, of the same type as we know from the Viking ships, were 20 meters high. In comparison, the largest Viking Ship, Gogstadskipet, was only 26 meters. Arriving up the river, at the place today named Hokksund, the sails were lowered and the crew started to use the oars. They rowed up the side river to Vestfossen. The land was much lower in the Bronze Age; consequently the waterway was navigable all the way up to Fiskum, only 5 km from where Kongsberg is situated today. From Fiskum there is a small valley and gorge leading directly to the target.

PICTURE 6 Map of the area depicting the route.

On the map you will be able to follow the possible navigable route, The Drammen Fjord, the DrammenRiver up to Hokksund, Vestfossen and on to Fiskum. We know that the Minoans were highly skilled sailors who were constantly navigating the entire Mediterranean. Their ships were already, in the Bronze Age, of a most sophisticated design. They were equipped with a keel so they could sail against the wind. We never did succeed in finding a wreck or even any remains of a Minoan ship. Not until quite recently have we been able to collect sufficient information that enables us to reconstruct a ship with a high degree of probability. In particular, the present excavations at Santorini have given us such information. Large wall-paintings, that were preserved by being buried in lava in some houses there, depict Minoan ships leaving the harbour. This is the largest and most famous of them.

PICTURE 8: The Flotilla , Wall painting from Santorini,

This wall painting was sealed by the lava in the house where it was found; consequently it is much better preserved than any painting from the Minoan palaces.By analysing the perspectives in all these paintings, the Greek archaeologists have been able to determine the sizes of the ships and to make reconstructions. The paintings can be seen in a museum at Santorini that was built specially for this purpose. A good aid in these reconstructions was the many images of ships found on fragments of pottery as well as on seal stones. If we compare the design of the Minoan ships with the ships of the other seagoing nations of the Mediterranean in the same era, in particular the Phoenicians and the Egyptians,
these were unable to match the ships of the Minoans in seaworthiness and manoeuverability. History has underestimated the ships of the Minoans because the secrets behind their design had been lost. After the fall of the Minoan civilization, many years would pass until ships of an equally sophisticated design could be made, actually 1500 – 2000 years, until the era of the Vikings. It is therefore not unlikely that the Minoans might have left some of their know-how during their stay in Norway. We are almost sure their ships were technically not inferior to Viking ships made 2000 years later. With these the Vikings cruised all the oceans; they often visited the Mediterranean, and they discovered America 500 years before Columbus!

PICTURE 10. Norwegian Viking Ship.

Thanks to the superiority of their ships, the Minoans had complete domination of the sea in this era. They could even defend the long coastline of Crete without coastal fortifications. The Minoans were tradesmen, not warriors; therefore there was no war in this era that lasted for 1500 years! Their superiority came to an end with the great tsunami caused by the volcanic explosion and eruption at Thera (Santorini). This was the beginning of the end for the Minoan civilisation.

The heirs of the Minoans as seafaring nations, who took over the trade in the area, were the Phoenicians and the Egyptians. The Phoenicians were also tradesmen. Even if they had less sophisticated ships than the Minoans, we have evidence that they were in Cornwall, England, where they, amongst others, became involved in mining. It is likely that the Minoans, also like the Vikings,used a solar compass to navigate their way on the oceans. We know the Vikings was in America 500 years before Columbus, why not also the Minoans? I am almost sure that future research will come to that conclusion!

Were the Minoans in America 3000 years before Columbus?

How else could one be able to explain the following:

We have evidence that traces of cocaine have been found in Egyptian mummies. We know for sure that the plant from which cocaine is extracted only existed in South America until a few hundred years ago! Who could possibly have brought it there other than the Minoans! They were the only ones who possessed ships with the ability for such an ocean crossing! Do we have evidence for the following? :

1. That the Minoans really came to Kongsberg in the Bronze Age,

2. That prehistoric mining did take place at Kongsberg in the Bronze Age,

3. That the signs on the granite slab really were characters of Linear A,

4. That Aartun’s deciphering is correct.

Nine years have passed since I got involved in what later for me became “The battle of Kongsberg”, the reason I got involved was an article in “Aftenposten”, Norway’s leading newspaper. Since my schooldays I was very interested in the
“Minoan Enigma”. I was lucky enough to have a teacher who was a great enthusiast of Minoan history. The rise of this civilisation is one of history’s greatest enigmas! The fall of the Minoans happened after the eruption at Thera (Santorini), not as a direct result of the tsunami itself but after most of their fleet was lost; they became an easy victim for the Greek warriors from the mainland, the Mycenaeans, who destroyed their palaces and most other traces of a civilisation that was thousands of years ahead of its time. The Greek history is one of war; the Minoan’s was one of peace! Until quite recently we had no indication of from where the Minoans had come. The civilisation was suddenly just there, indicating that the Minoans must have originated from somewhere in the Mediterranean region, but from where? When I read the article I found it quite natural to involve myself further in the mystery, not necessarily in order to
solve it but to try to understand more.

We have determined that the Minoan ships may have been of a construction sophisticated enough to sail the great oceans but unfortunately this is not enough evidence to establish that they actually were in Kongsberg in the Bronze Age. The characters are there, on the granite slab, but we have no evidence of how they got there. Having involved myself in the mystery for some years I suddenly got unexpected help from our neighbours in the east.

It appeared that the Swedish archaeologist, Oscar Montelius, put this theory forward more than a hundred years ago! What gave him the idea was the narrow time span between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age that really was there “from one day to the next!” Some sudden influence must have been involved. His theory was not immediately accepted, but his idea has occupied the Swedish archaeological class ever since.

Both professors had occupied themselves with the subject until they got the chance to start a more comprehensive research project that lasted for 6 years. During the research period the two professors had examined thousands of texts and objects, in particular the stone carvings, (petroglyphs) that are to be found on both sides of the Norwegian/Swedish border in the Norwegian county of Oestfold and the Swedish county of Bohuslan. Kristiansen and Larsson had good support from all the universities in Sweden as well as from the Swedish radio that for a decade been broadcasting a program called “Stenristarne” “The stone carvers”. This program aimed at educating and motivating the people to be aware of and to report the discovery of objects that could be classified as “archaeological findings”

Résumé of the researches:

In the Bronze Age an advanced culture had suddenly arisen in the southern Scandinavian countries with clear influence from the countries of the Aegean; first the Minoans, later also the Mycenaeans and the classical Greeks. The researchers concluded that it was most likely not only that the areas were visited by people from the south, but also that the population had visited the southern countries over a period that lasted about 1000 years! According to Kristiansen, inscriptions in both Minoan and Mycenaean Linear A and B have been found. Whilst the result did not cause any great surprise in Swedish and Danish archaeological circles, the Norwegians were thoroughly shocked! Therefore this revolutionary thesis has passed unheeded in Norway, even if the truth is that we shall have to rewrite history! The same survey explains and supports Jarnaes’ many findings at Kongsberg, in areas where indications of
old silver mines, astronomical and mathematical stone settings, are strong indications of the presence of an advanced culture.

PICTURE 9, Stone carving from Oestfold, Norway.

In their book, the two professors claim that the stone carvings, the petroglyphs of Scandinavia, depict ships from theMediterranean.

I have myself, together with Jarnaes, visited the areas around Kongsberg and made photographs of what Jarnaes claims were residues of prehistoric mining. From several other European countries, we have also found evidence and detailed information of prehistoric mining. The pictures I took are all very similar to findings in Spain and in Serbia. I even had contact by e-mail with archaeologists in Serbia who supported my theories. What is rather special, with the Kongsberg silver, is that it could be found in a pure condition directly on the surface. Who could possibly believe that such findings could remain unnoticed right up to 1623? As soon as the source was depleted, the stone material, that had
been picked out together with the silver, was filled back into the ”mines”.

What surprised me most was that Jarnaes’ finding should cause such a stir in the established archaeological circles that they succeeded in sabotaging further research for many years. To start with, Jarnaes reported the findings to the historical institute of Oslo University. They immediately sent a young archaeologist to Kongsberg in order to examine the site. The young man became very enthusiastic with what he saw. He could establish that the incised mark indicated that the carving was most likely from the Bronze Age. The local newspaper reporter, who was there at the same time, printed the news in the next day’s newspaper, referring to the young man by name. The very next day an extremely angry professor from Oslo arrived on the spot; he was the senior person in the Archaeological and Historical Institute. He demanded that the newspaper reverse all they had written the day before. He determined, there and then, that there were no such things as Bronze Age discoveries or prehistoric mining at Kongsberg. Everything that was printed in the newspaper “was caused by the inexperience of his young assistant!” The Minoan signs were letters of the Latin alphabet and what Jarnaes claimed were prehistoric mines had nothing to do with mining whatsoever!

Death sentence to Norwegian Archaeology and Science

It took me some considerable time to get to the bottom of the motivation and the strange attitude of the established Norwegian archaeological scientists for the categorical rebuttal of Jarnaes’ findings. I will deal with this, in detail, later.

”The Battle of Kongsberg”

Here is a brief summary:

In connection with the “official silver mining of 1623” , a special ”museum of silver mining” was established at Kongsberg. The chief of this museum had spent his life writing “The history of silver mining in Kongsberg”. If Jarnaes’ claim could be proven, his “life’s work” would totally disintegrate. If, in addition to this, evidence could be found that the Minoans came to Kongsberg for silver, and that the characters on the granite slab were Linear A, the catastrophe would be
complete and the old chap would have made a complete fool of himself! The resistance was so severe that it lasted right up to 2007, until the case came under further scrutiny. Jarnaes never gave up; he continued to send e-mails with pictures and even videos to experts in other countries. In 2007 one of these experts became involved and started further research. Costs were covered from foreign sources! One of the tests that the Norwegians had neglected to undertake, in all this time, was the obvious Radiocarbon 14 dating! The very first test blew “the 1623 limit” miles away!

I am not able to tell anything more at this time, because the research is ongoing. However I have sufficient information to be convinced that Jarnaes will come out of the battle with flying colours! The loser is the Norwegian archaological establishment. They have sabotaged progress on one of the most interesting archaeological sites in the history of Norwegian Archaological science for more than 20 years, for no other motive than to protect a colleague! This case will, in due time, force them to rewrite history!

The five Linear A characters.

It is more than 100 years since Arthur Evans came up with the first clay tablets with Linear characters from Knossos. The name “Minoan” is Evans “invention”. The Egyptians, from whom we have a lot of information about the Minoans, called them:

“The civilisation of the Keftiu”.

The younger Linear B version was deciphered in the early 50ties by Michael Ventris. The older Linear A was more problematic.

During the 20th Century, a lot of work was done by Jean Pierre Olivier and Louis Goddard as well as William Bryce. They made complete catalogues of every known character, around 120. Each character has in some cases several variations

Linear A characters were meant to be written on papyrus or soft clay, not to be cut into stone! Taking that into consideration there is no more inaccuracy to be found in comparing the Kongsberg carvings with the characters in the catalogues, than you find if you compare the main character with the different variations of the same in the Bryce List.

Genetic evidence.

Archaeology has recently acquired new tools, some of them inherited from Medicine, such as radar and laser scanning of archaeological sites and reading molecular DNA of up to 5,000yr old bones. In February 2007, the prestigious
Stanford Research Institute issued a report on behalf of the Archaeological society of the USA. The survey used the new technique of molecular DNA analysis on bones collected from excavations in various countries in the Mediterranean. The DNA patterns were then compared with bones from Minoan tombs. The result concludes that the origin of the Minoan civilisation is most likely to be the countries east of Turkey, somewhere between Iran and Iraq. Enough Minoan genetic material was also found in Southern Scandinavia to support the theories of the book, “Rise of Bronze Age society”.

The leading Athens Newspaper Kathimerini;

DNA sheds light on The Minoans

Crete’s fabled Minoan civilization was built by people from Anatolia, according to a new study, by Greek and foreign scientists, that refutes an earlier theory that said the Minoans’ forefathers had come from Africa. The new study – a collaboration by experts in Greece, the USA, Canada, Russia and Turkey – drew its conclusions from the DNA analysis of 193 men from Crete and another 171 from former Neolithic colonies in central and northern Greece. The results show that the country’s Neolithic population came to Greece by sea from Anatolia – modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria – and not from Africa, as maintained by US scholar Martin Bernal. The DNA analysis indicates that the arrival of Neolithic man in Greece from Anatolia coincided with the social and cultural upsurge that led to the birth of the Minoan civilization, Constantinos Triantafyllidis of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University told Kathimerini. “Until now we only had the archaeological evidence – now we have genetic data too and we can date theDNA,” he said.

Is it possible to decipher Linear A?

There have been many attempts to decipher Linear A. The problem, to start with, is that we do not know even what class of language it could possibly be. After almost 100 years of research there seems to be an agreement that 90 % of the characters of Linear B also occur in Linear A. It is also most likely that most of the sound values are identical. The one and only thing the linguists are in agreement about is that the language is not Greek. Some scientists suggest that it is Indo-European, similar to the languages from Anatolia; Huerrian, Uertian, Luvian, Hiti and Indo-Iranian. The second group (Aartun and Cyrus Gordon) is of the opinion that Linear A is a Semitic language.

Having been engaged with the enigma for all these years, I must admit that I have changed my opinion and updated the article several times since it first appeared in the local Cretan newspaper “Anatoli” in 2002.

The reason is first and foremost the new information, the book by the Swedish professors and the DNA report from Stanford.

In addition to that I have spent more time studying the various aspects of the case on my own. Thanks to the Internet, everybody who is interested in the subjects can take part and add information to the discussion.

Having followed the discussion for some years, I am not very optimistic that we shall be able to decipher Linear A for some time. I believe the situation will not improve until we discover more material.

You will find more information. Jarnaes and I have different views on Aartun’s deciphering.

Kongsberg 2012, 10 years after my first visit.

10 years ago I wrote my first article about the findings at Kongsberg. The article was published in the Cretan newspaper Anatoli in June 2002.

A lot of things have happened in the 10 years that calls for an update. I found the best way for an update is a visit to the place. Together with Johan Jarnæs I have looked through most of the same archaeological sites that has engaged me most for the last 10 years. Afterwards we had a thorough discursion. By such an occasion it is natural that the both of us made a summing up.

Johan Jarnæs and Sven Buchholz on the granite slab July 2012. The Linear A inscription is whitened up with chalk; Note the small size of the characters!

The Linear A inscriptions as they are today.

Jarnæs cleaned some dirt away and moistened with water to make the signs more easy to see. Thanks to the very solid rock material the inscription has not deteriorated.The cutting mark alone is sufficient to indicate that the inscription was engraved with a stone in the Bronze Age. The Linear A characters were designed to be written with a pen on papyrus. Cutting with stone is bound to result in some inaccuracies.

For photographic sessions a little cleaning and make up is needed.

“The wine sack with coral”

On this picture it is easy to see that the figure is cut into the rock with a hammer and a ponted instrument.

About this inscription “The wine sack with coral” Jarnæs and I are not in agreement. One can easily observe that the cutting marks are totally different from the stone cut Linear A inscription. It can only have been made with a pointed instrument, probably iron. (se the first picture to make this impression more visible) Look at the pointed cutting marks! Then it may differ as much as 1000 years in time!

Joh. Jarnæs spent a lot of his childhood in Kongsberg. As a boy he loved to play around in the woods and he had since boyhood a highly developed ability to observe. What he discovered as a boy brought him to think further as a mature man.

When Jarnæs came up with the statement that what we se here is a prehistoric mine, he brought the entire scientific – historic camp in Kongsberg to scream. In 2007 Jarnæs got foreign experts on prehistoric mining to look at the site. Further investigations, including ,were carried out with foreign recourses. These tests blew the 1623 time line tousansands of years away ! Jarnæs and a friend had already at his own expenses carried out a C 14 Radio Carbon testing on a piece of charcoal much erlier. This test already mooved the time barrier back to 300 BC!

The mines are totally overgrown, after they have been excavated.

There is a long shaft underneath that comes up to the surface some 20 behind. In accordance with prehistoric mining habits, the stones were put back in the shaft after the metal had been extracted.

Jarnæs shows me that the visible part of the granite slab is only a fracture of what is grass cowered.

Only a very little part of the slab has been examined till now. The grass layer is not very thick, so it would not have been a big deal to clean it all. The owner is very interested and would give all permissions needed to dig out the entire area. Now, when it is established that it is more then likely that the Minoans travelled to Scandinavia, I would be surprised if there not were more Linear A inscriptions to be found underneath! My hope for the future is that the new generation of archaeologists will have a more open mind and that more and more of them will be finding their way to this unique site so that the entire area will be professionally and thoroughly examined.

Piece of pure silver as it came out of a Kongsberg mine.

There could be lumps of 40 – 100 kg! Unfortunately, Norway was “owned” by Denmark at the time, all recourses were robed from us and went directly to the Danish King who used most of it to finance wars! Norway also had rich copper mines like in Røros and other places. The Danes robbed Norway for lots of money during those years! When I hear Norwegians complain about the 5 years we were under Hitler I always ask: What about the “500 year night” we were under Denmark! If we send the bill to Copenhagen one day, I wonder how much it would be!

Evidence?

Where do we stand to day in comparison with in 2002?

Are we closer to being able to prove that Kongsberg had a history before 1623?

Since foreign expertise came to Kongsberg and carried out examinations, a radiocarbon dating alone blew the 1623 mark sky-high.

Did prehistoric mining really take place in Kongsberg?

Examinations are still going on, reports are being written, and therefore excluded from telling more at the time, but one thing is sure: We have sufficient evidence to claim: Prehistoric mining did take place at Kongsberg!

Is it possible that the Minoans could have travelled to Kongsberg?

Archaeology obtained recently 2 new tools that put the entire science miles ahead. SCANNING and DNA. The DNA evidence proves that this is more than likely! Sufficient DNA evidence has also been found in Sweden, north westGermany and in the British isles to prove the book: The Rise of Bronze Age Society is based on scientific facts. This also speaks for the Swedish archaeologist Oscar Montelius

who brought the idea up more than 100 years ago! The Minoans were even greater travellers than we have known. The newest discovery is from North West Germany, “Fricia” near the border to Denmark where remaining of a Minoan settlements was found. One of the objects was a seal ring with characters in Linear A! The DNA testing is still going on; new reports are being published all the time. Personally I would not be surprised if we one day will learned that the Minoans travelled even to America, 3000 years before Columbus! (Reference: Kokain in the Egyptian mummies, se abowe.)

Can we prove that the inscriptions on the slate are Minoan Linear A?

With all this new evidence and so much more information than we had only 10 years ago I would say that this is more than likely. (se picture abowe with comparison Brice List) What about the inaccuracies? I put the question forward to Jarnæs who showed me a fax from professor Cyrus Gordon, which he had received in 1995 where he writes that the first sign is we in Linear A, and the last sign is ti in Linear A. Gordon was not able to identify the other three signs, as he did not recognize the two rare signs which are rendered in the supplementary list of William Brice´s list of the Linear A, namely, the yu-sign and the pi-sign. The pi-sign in the inscription has clearly the interior form of a cup, which identifies it as the syllable pi. (At that time, Cyrus Gordon had not studied the Linear A syllabary since the sixties.) The tu-sign in the inscription is the most difficult sign to peck into the hard gneiss. As the four signs match Linear A-syllables, the fifth sign must also be a Linear A sign, and then it can be no other sign than the tu-syllable. As a matter of fact, there is some likeness, and since the first and last sign are Linear A, what could the signs in the middle possibly be? The signs are pecked into the rock with a blunt instrument, apparently e stone, and the same peck marks are to be found spread out over the surface of the rock, as is common on rock carvings sites in Norway from the Bronze Age. The state of erosion of the signs also accounts for their antiquity. They are impossible to discover without sidelight.

Are we closer to the enigma, the decoding of Linear A?

On this point Jarnæs and I are of different opinions. I do no longer believe in Aartun’s deciphering. I have been reading Aartun’s books over a long period of time. The more I read of them the less I believed it could be correct! I totally disagree with his methods. In addition to that there are more and more suggestions coming up that the Phaistos disk is a fake! When that is proven Aartun will b in real trouble.

There have been many attempts to decipher Linear A. The problem is to start with, is that we do not know even what class of language it could possibly be. After almost 100 years of research there seems to be an agreement that 90 % of the characters of Linear B also occur in Linear A. It is also most likely that most of the sound values are identical. The one and only thing the linguists are in agreement about is that the language is not Greek. Some scientists suggest that it is Indo-European, similar to the languages from Anatolia; Huerrian, Uertian, Luvian, Hiti and Indo-Iranian. The second group (Aartun and Cyrus Gordon) is of the opinion that Linear A is a Semitic language. We have less than 100 inscriptions that are big enough to convey any meaningful message. Chadvick and Ventris were able to decipher Linear B, they had hundreds of clay tablets with inscriptions in Linear B. In addition to that they had got a certain clue that the language had to be Greek.

We simply have not nearly enough material to make a deciphering under the mentioned circumstances.

Champolion who deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphs had the Rosetta stone with the same inscription in 3 languages, 2 of them were known! However, Champolion said that he probably would not have succeeded if he had not got a clue to a language related to the ancient Egyptian, Coptic! My only hope is that we find more written material, I have hopes for the Akrotiri excavations on Santorini and in Palaikastro where Sandy Mc Gillivray of the BritishSchool in Athens, by scanning has found evidence of yet another MinoanPalace!